Metallic railroad-tie



T. D. THOMAS.

METALLIC RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION man 02c. 22. mm

1,862,903. Patented Dec. 21,1920.

112 Elms-:1

THOMAS ID. THOMAS, OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

METALLIC RAILROAD-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

Application filed December 22, 1919. Serial No. 845,627.

To aZZ whom, it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS D. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bethlehem, in the county of Northampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Metallic Railroad-fies; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in metallic railroad ties.

The primary object is to provide a metallic tie so constructed that it will prevent the current of electricity from passing between a pair of rails.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

I attain these objects by constructing the tie as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the tie.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the plane of line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the tie.

Fig. 4: is an end elevation thereof.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the plane of line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and

F 6 is a section taken on the plane of line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Similar reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the several views.

This improved railroad tie comprises an elongated substantially trough-shaped body, said body being formed from a sheet of metal 1 bent into substantially lJ-shape. Disposed in the trough-shaped body is a pair of cushion blocks 2 preferably formed of insulating material such as wood, said blocks being disposed at the opposite ends of the body and secured in place by means of transverse bolts 3.

For the purpose of protecting the blocks 2 and forming a finished tie, a cover is pro-' vided, said cover comprising three pieces of sheet metal, two of which are adapted to be positioned over the cushion blocks and project slightly beyond the ends thereof and the third sheet 5 being adapted to cover the space between the block covering sheets 4. The block covering sheets are each provided with downturned flanges 6 on the opposite longitudinal edges, said flanges be .ing extended downwardly past the upper edges of the body 1 and overlapping them. These cover plates 4 are secured to the blocks by means of lag screws and are held against lateral movement by said lag screws and the spikes which are driven through suitable openings in the plates to secure the rails R in position. The plate 5 which c vers the space between the cover plates 4 overlaps the adjacent ends of the plates 4 and is provided with longitudinal slots for the reception of connecting bolts 7 which retain -the plates together. These plates are insulated from each other by sheets of in sulating material 8, portions of which are forced through bolt openings adjacent the inner ends of the cover sheets 41: and by means of washers 9 which are also formed of a suitable insulating material and are placed beneath the nuts carried by the bolts 7. This central plate 5 is provided at its opposite longitudinal edges with down turned flanges 10 whose lower edges are horizontally alined with the lower edges of the flanges 6 carried by the cover plates 4.

The lower edges of the depending flanges on the plates 4: and 5 are necessarily held out of electrical contact with the upper edges of the body 1 and in order that this may be accomplished I cut away the outer upper sides of the body 1 and the inner lower faces of the flanges on the plates 4 and 5 forming channels 11 which when positioned as shown in Fig. 5 leave suflicient space between the flanges to prevent current of electricity from passing to the body of the tie. The ends of the tie body are closed by rectangular pieces of sheet metal whose side bent to form flanges and bottom edges are or otherwlse secured which may be soldered to the bottom of the tie.

It is readily seen that by constructing metallic ties as heretofore described, a current of electricity will not be permitted to pass from one rail to the other since the sectional cover plates are suitably insulated from each other and the current will not be permitted to pass into the ground because of the spacing apart of the overlapping edges of the tie body and the flanges on the cover plates 1 and 5. The central cover plate 5 being provided with longitudinally extending slots will permit adjustment of the cover plates to vary the space between the rails in compensating for wear thereof.

From the foregoing description, taken in comiection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the claimed invention.

I claim:

1. A tie of the class described comprising an elongated trough-shaped body having an open upper side, a pair of blocks of insulating material positioned in said body at the opposite ends, said blocks extending above the upper edges of said body, a cover secured to said blocks and extending the length of said body, and flanges depending from the side edges of said cover, said flanges overlapping the sides of said body and being out of electrical contact therewith.

2. A tie of the class described comprising an elongated trough-shaped body having an open upper side, a pair of blocks of insulating material positioned in said body.

at its opposite ends, said blocks extending above the upper edges of said body, a cover comprismg three sections, two cover sections being secured to said blocks, the intermediate section being adapted to have its ends overlap the inner ends of the other sections, bolts connecting said ends, insulating material interposed between said overlapped ends, and flanges depending from the side edges of the cover sections and overlapping the sides of said body, said flanges being out of electrical contact with said body.

3. A tie of the class described comprising an elongated substantially U-shaped metal box, a pair of cushion blocks positioned in said box adjacent the ends, said blocks projecting above the sides of the box, bolts securing the blocks in place, a pair of inverted U-shaped covers positioned over said blocks and secured thereto, the sides ot said covers overlapping the sides of the box and spaced therefrom, said covers having bolt holes adjacent their inner ends, an inverted substantially U-shaped cover for the open space between said covers, the last named cover having longitudinal slots to be alined with said bolt holes for the reception of bolts, and means for insulating the last named cover from the other covers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set m hand.

y THOMAS D. THOMAS. 

